Amendments pile up, but little changes at Statehouse

Rep. Brian Mannal says he has received an email every 30 seconds since the $36.2 billion House budget was unveiled on Wednesday afternoon. Sent by constituents, advocacy groups, local organizations, aides and even other legislators, nearly every email urged the Barnstable Democrat to support one amendment to the budget or another.

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By LAUREN DEZENSKI

capecodtimes.com

By LAUREN DEZENSKI

Posted Apr. 11, 2014 at 2:00 AM

By LAUREN DEZENSKI
Posted Apr. 11, 2014 at 2:00 AM

BUDGET AMENDMENTS

The following are a few of the state budget amendments filed by the Cape delegation:

Increase regional school transportation funding from $2 million to $6 million

Local option r...

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BUDGET AMENDMENTS

The following are a few of the state budget amendments filed by the Cape delegation:

Increase regional school transportation funding from $2 million to $6 million

Local option room occupancy tax for Brewster, Wellfleet and Provincetown

"Check off the box" bill allowing income tax filers to make voluntary contributions to the Massachusetts Cultural Development Fund on their annual income tax returns

$25,000 to Cape Cod Young Professionals to help fund a study into why younger workers leave the Cape

$50,000 for Hyannis East, Hyannis West and Centerville elementary schools

» Social News

BOSTON — Rep. Brian Mannal says he has received an email every 30 seconds since the $36.2 billion House budget was unveiled on Wednesday afternoon. Sent by constituents, advocacy groups, local organizations, aides and even other legislators, nearly every email urged the Barnstable Democrat to support one amendment to the budget or another.

Representatives have until 5 p.m. today to file and co-sponsor amendments to the proposed House budget for the coming fiscal year, giving organizers and constituents a small window of time to make noise in support of their causes.

The House budget is $200 million less than what Gov. Deval Patrick proposed but includes more money for local aid, substance abuse programs and higher education. That comes at the expense of other funding — leaving some people unhappy.

For example, Wendy Northcross, CEO of the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce, and others are pushing for the House to increase funding for the Massachusetts Office of Tourism from the House's proposed $5.9 million to $20 million. In last year's budget, the Office of Travel and Tourism received $13.5 million.

"We think we're one of the best deals going," Northcross said Thursday. "In tourism, we make money. We take a little bit of money, and we make a lot of money."

The Cape Cod Chamber and the Arts Foundation of Cape Cod both sent out email blasts on Wednesday urging their supporters to tell legislators that the budget does not do enough to support tourism and arts funding.

Rep. Randy Hunt, R-Sandwich, said he has received roughly 50 emails about those issues.

"It's smart for the House to do it this way," Northcross said. "If no one screams bloody murder about their line item being cut, why keep it?"

Rep. Cory Atkins, D-Concord, chairwoman of the Joint Committee on Tourism, Arts and Cultural Development, filed a tourism amendment and another that would increase funding for the Massachusetts Cultural Council from $5 million to $16 million. Last year, the Cultural Council received $8.1 million.

Thursday afternoon, Atkins' office had 33 representatives signed on to co-sponsor the tourism funding increase, while 60 had signed on to co-sponsor the Cultural Council funding amendment. Those co-signers included Rep. Sarah Peake, D-Provincetown, Hunt and Mannal.

However, a deluge of support is not necessarily helpful.

"This process of co-sponsoring amendments is akin to trying to drink water from a firehose," Mannal said. "In a very short period of time, there are a tremendous number of people who reach out and attempt to get attention and solicit support for amendments. The reality is that a lot of that is wasted time."

Though it is easy for representatives to throw support behind different causes by co-sponsoring amendments, the deck could still be stacked. Mannal used the proposed expansion of the bottle bill as an example.

"The bottle bill has something like over 100 co-sponsors, and yet it doesn't happen," he said. "Even if there's a well-organized advocacy group behind an amendment, but the political will is not in the Statehouse, nothing will happen."

This is Rep. Cleon Turner's, D-Dennis, final budget season before leaving the Statehouse, and from his eight years' experience, he knows what to expect: roughly 900 amendments, with about 10 percent making it into the final budget.